RacingNation.com
Home / IndyCar Series / Newgarden Tops Iowa Indy Lights Field

Newgarden Tops Iowa Indy Lights Field

Newton, Iowa, June 25 – Josef Newgarden scored his third Firestone Indy Lights win of the season in the 115-lap Sukup 100 at Iowa Speedway today.

The race had two laps with false starts as polesitter Estaban Guerrieri was laying back at the start and not bringing the field up to speed.

The third time by the field was given the green and Guerrieri led the field into Turn 1. In Turn 3, Guerrieri and Gustavo Yacaman who started on the outside of the fron row made contact. Guerrieri slid up the track but was able to save it and not hit the wall.

This incident brought out a brief yellow under which Guerrieri maintained the lead despite his slide.

When the green came back out on lap six Guerrieri held the lead with Yacaman and Josef Newgarden trailing.

On lap 10 Guerrieri hel a 1.25 second lead over Yacaman. Newgarden was third, Bryan Clauson held fourth and David Ostella rounded out the top five.

As the laps went by, Guerrieri continued to lead but Newgarden was constantly closing on him and, on lap 26, Newgarden took the lead.

By lap 30, Newgarden had a .28 second lead over Yacaman and Clauson held third.

Guerrieri was black-flagged on lap 33 due to reports of spray on the track. The crew reported the car was damaged in the lap one contact with Yacaman and was retired from the race.

On lap 40 the top five were Newgarden, Yacaman, Clauson, David Ostela and Victor Carbone.

By lap 50, the top three, Newgarden, Yacaman and Clauson had pulled away from the rest of the field as Duarte Ferriera held fourth and Victor Garcia was fifth.

The top five remained the same with Newgarden holding about a .3 second lead until lap 79 when Garcia took fourth from Ferriera.

As Newgarden continued to lead, Yacaman and Clauson were battling for second for a number of laps. While the pair were side-by-side fighting for the position, Newgarden pulled away from the pair, opening up a 3 second lead.

Despite constant challenges from Clauson, Yacaman still held second and as Newgarden took the checkered flag at the end of the 115-lap race, he held a 5.4 second lead over Yacaman.

The top five had remained consistent from lap 79 to the finish as Newgarden scored the win with Yacaman second, Clauson third, Garcia fourth and Ferreira rounded out the top five.

In victory lane Newgarden credited his car’s handling for the win. “It was a great day for us,” he said.

“We could run wherever we needed to. The car was working well up high. I was holding the car flat. It was handling so well it made it easy for us,” he added.

It was a day for career high finishes as Yacaman’s second-place finish was the best of his career, as was third for Clauson and fifth for Ferreira.

Sukup 100 Finish

1. (4) Josef Newgarden, 115, Running

2. (2) Gustavo Yacaman, 115, Running

?3. (3) Bryan Clauson, 115, Running?

4. (12) Victor Garcia, 115, Running?

5. (5) Duarte Ferreira, 115, Running

?6. (11) Jorge Goncalvez, 115, Running

?7. (6) Victor Carbone, 114, Running

?8. (7) Stefan Wilson, 114, Running

?9. (10) David Ostella, 113, Running

?10. (13) Chase Austin, 95, Mechanical

11. (9) Anders Krohn, 50, Handling?

12. (1) Esteban Guerrieri, 32, Mechanical

?13. (8) Brandon Wagner, 0, DNS

Share Button